I'm sure this topic has been dealt with before, but I couldn't find it. I am considering purchasing, on the internet, a game the likes of which I have seen before. These games are listed as "Imports with English audio. New, never used" etc..

My questions are 1) Are these games legitimate? (As opposed to illegals; knockoffs, etc.) 2) Do they work? Will they safely run on a machine? 3) Is there anything questionable or 'snarky' about them? I have minor personal warning bells going off, but can't find many comments. Even Ebay comments seem to be mostly positive.

Any opinions out there??

We can't tell without more information.
Give us a link to check out.

Actually, I intended my question to be a general one but. as an example, I see that Ebay has several copies of Sherlock Holmes: the Awakened available and they usually have the following comment:

"THIS AUCTION IS FOR NEW PC GAME. BUYER WILL RECEIVE GAME IN ORIGINAL CD CASE. BEFORE BIDDING MAKE SURE THAT YOUR PC MEETS OR EXCEEDS MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS. THIS GAME IS IMPORTED RETAIL VERSION WITH ENGLISH GAME PLAY."

What I absolutely don't want is an illegal copy or a knockoff.

I remember reading about someone purchasing The Awakened in Russian with an English mod or something like that and it was a bootleg.

http://www.gameboomers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=151873&page=1#Post151873

I found several examples of doing a search at ebay.com for

Sherlock Holmes: the Awakened

Considering that he says it comes in an "ORIGINAL CD CASE" but doesn't even have a picture of the CD case, I'd say it was a copied game. I can buy a pack of 50 original CD cases from office supply stores. Nowhere does he say the game itself is original. Not only that, but if you check his feedback you see some people complained he'd sent them a Russian version of the games he sells.

If you want to buy The Awakened on ebay, look for auctions more like this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160132275112

He's got a picture of the game in the DVD case, he says it's "New and unused genuine PC DVD-Rom product in a DVD case just like the picture. Still shrinkwrapped. Just like you'd buy in the shops" And the price is what the game is going for - around $40 for the import version. But you might as well buy it at Interact and save on the postage.

If you're looking for a bargain, you'll have to wait until after the game gets an official US release.

Haze:
I will tell you FACT. I bought on ebay :Sherlock Holmes The Awakened". Exactly as you thread described it. Import with english game play. I received it,was surprised at the box cover being in Russian, Installed the english version and when it came to trade it after I played it. I found out it was an ILLEGAL copy. I contacted with scanned photos the Frogware developers and received an email from the C.E.O Stating it was in fact an illegal copy. granted I didn't pay much for it, but, did get burned.I live in Canada and fairly new to gaming,I didn't know any better. So, I contacted other ebay purchasers of the said game ,who complained to the seller, that it was an illegal copy, after looking at their feedback record, sent them a copy of my email from the CEO and also ebay administration. That person who sold it to me is no longer a registered member of Ebay. Their selling priviledges were revoked. Just BEWARE when it says IMPORTED VERSION.

Lesson well learned by myself. BUYER BEWARE.. I never got money back or anything.But, did put them out of business on ebay.

Best thing to be certain on ebay is to buy from a power seller. They have tons of items sold and positive feedback or else they wouldn't be power sellers.

"Power seller" doesn't mean much in this case.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300126264273
This person "sratushna" IS a "Power seller." He has multiple copies of this game and others on ebay, all with the same description as The Haze quoted. His feedback is 98.7% positive. People who only want to play the game just don't care that it's a "Russian" copy leave positive feedback. Most of them know that at that low price they are bidding on pirate games.

I buy and sell a LOT on ebay. I can tell you that "Power Seller" means nothing more than that the seller maintains a certain level of sales each month -- it says NOTHING about whether or not a particular seller is honest, etc. In fact, ebay holds powersellers to a LOWER feedback percentage standard than regular sellers!

When buying on ebay, 99% of the time the games that say "English subtitles" or similar are illegal copies. You'd be better off buying the game in a regular store, or here on GB.

On ebay in general, it is recommended that you not purchase anything from a regular seller with a feedback any lower than "body temperature" (e.g., 98.6% positive feedback), and higher than that is, of course, better. When purchasing from a powerseller, it is recommended that you buy only from a powerseller with a feedback percentage of at least 99% positive -- they do so much volume that it should be easy for them to maintain a minimum 99% positive feedback rating, if they're any good at all.

Just for comparisons sake, I've been an ebay member since December 2002, I have 440 total feedbacks (426 unique ones), and a 100% positive overall feedback rating -- never received a negative or a neutral. That's because I'm honest (and my prices are decent, I package very well, etc. -- but mostly cause I'm honest!). Which is not to say you should avoid an ebayer with a couple of negatives or neutrals, so long as the overall percentage is good, and so long as s/he responded to those comments in a professional manner.

Hope no one minds the tangent, lol! It's just that I'm very active on the ebay "Answer Center", so I like to share my ebay knowledge.

UpTooLate,

Thanks for sharing that insight. That will help the ebay buyers.

Ebay is full of bootlegs, even if there are still honest sellers & original stuffs. You must check carefully, case by case.

For example, not sure some of you listen to Heavy Metal music, however there are TONS OF METAL CD bootlegs made in Russia.

And for some movie / animation DVD, there are TONS OF HK / CHINESE DVD bootlegs all over the ebay.

And beware about THAI release. Not sure they are boots or not, and they could be legit release in Thailand. Anyway you might not wish to have a gamebox with unknown language.

In this instance, if you are looking to buy a new/recently released game on eBay, the expression you get what you pay for generally applies. There is the occasional individual seller (not a power seller but rather someone who might be selling a few of their games) who will sell a recently released game, previously played, at a pretty darn good discount. But in general, if the game is marked off by about 50% and it's brand new/recently released, you need to smell a rat, so to speak.